Villas-Boas urges consistent VAR across UEFA’s top 8 leagues and Europe | OneFootball

The VAR protocol may soon be changed, allowing technology to intervene in cases of “clear and obvious errors.” The proposal was put forward by David Elleray, former international referee and IFAB representative, at the Men’s Football Working Group meeting of the European Football Clubs (EFC) held last Tuesday in Frankfurt, which was attended by the president of FC Porto, André Villas-Boas.

One of the topics under discussion was the limits of VAR’s intervention, including the possible expansion of the protocol to incidents that have so far been excluded, such as incorrectly awarded corner kicks (a recent case in Santa Clara-Sporting), wrongly shown yellow cards, and, in the short/medium term, situations involving a second yellow card. Elleray admitted that “new developments” to the current framework are close, with the aim of allowing VAR intervention in clear errors, even when they do not directly involve goals, penalties, or straight red cards.

The discussion comes at a time when Portuguese football is experiencing a new cycle of controversy surrounding refereeing. One day before the Portuguese Football Referees Association (APAF) met with Liga Portugal – at a meeting where José Borges presented Reinaldo Teixeira with proposals to increase sanctions, including heavy fines and even the loss of points for clubs that criticize refereeing decisions – the European elite debated the same issue from a perspective of structural and technological modernization.

The Frankfurt meeting was attended by André Villas-Boas, as a member of UEFA’s UCC Committee, who advocated for greater uniformity in the application of the Laws of the Game and in the use of refereeing technologies in all European competitions and, ideally, in all countries within the UEFA top-8 ranking, which includes Liga Portugal. The official reinforced the need for IFAB to make UEFA aware of the importance of ensuring that VAR, goal-line technology, and automated offside are available equally in the continent’s main leagues.

The meeting also addressed the international calendar and actual playing time, with consensus on the urgency of protecting players’ rest and managing seasons in a more balanced way.

With this participation, FC Porto underlines its commitment to positively influencing the European debate, advocating for a “fairer, more modern, and sustainable” football. However, the main highlight is the promise of a more interventionist VAR, capable of correcting not only a wrongly awarded goal or penalty, but also an unjust card that could affect an entire championship.

The meeting requested by FC Porto with Luciano Gonçalves, on November 1st, on the eve of the controversial match between the Dragons and Sp. Braga – the episode in which the well-known television case occurred – already has a set date. According to Record, the Refereeing Council of the Portuguese Football Federation will receive the Porto officials next Tuesday, the 18th of this month, before the end of the league break, as requested.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.